A Lifetime of Musicals
by XxAlicexX
Summary: Troy/Ryan A look through Troy and Ryan's life together. Told through the use of song lyrics from various musicals.


So I have been away for a good few months – when I say 'few' I really mean 6 or more – life got busy, good things happened, bad

_Want to hear something funny…last time I wrote was 30/10/07!!_

_Words: 3,_

**A Lifetime of Musicals**

_And if it turns out_

_It's over too fast_

_I'll make every last moment last_

'_**As Long as Your Mine' – Wicked**_

_Senior Year:_

The school starts to tell you that you should start to send your applications into colleges. Ryan sends his out to every major drama school (you didn't know half of them existed) some of them are as far as New York City. You are supportive because this is his dream, but deep inside you want to be selfish and tell him to stay with you.

You, on the other hand, send yours out to colleges a bit closer to home. You Dad told you to shoot for the stars and even though you love basketball you thought you might try your hand at teaching. You might follow in the old mans footsteps one day and coach.

On the day that replies are received Ryan asks you if you can open them together and you agree whole-heartedly. He holds an envelope in one hand and you reach out to take the other in yours and give it a little squeeze. He lets out a breath and opens it. His face falls: He didn't get in. You squeeze his hand once more and tell him it's all right, that he is amazing and that that university doesn't know what they're missing. You remind him about the four other letters lying on the table.

In the end Ryan gets into four out of the five colleges he applied for. He chooses to accept one in New York, his first choice, the one that when he opened the acceptance letter was so happy that he turned to you, smiled and kissed you so hard you thought you would stop breathing. You get into all of your chosen universities making the decision excruciatingly hard but none of your colleges are even remotely close to Ryan, so you accept the offer from University of New Mexico.

The summer after senior year you and Ryan take a trip round Europe. Expensive, but Sharpay got a yacht for a 'well done you're going to college' present so it was only fair that Ryan got a present too. He wouldn't let you pay for anything, which kind of annoyed you, but you understood he was only trying to let you save your money.

Italy was beautiful and so were the men but you had the most beautiful man sitting next to you so no Italian Stallion was any consolation. You went to Venice where you road on a Gondola and Rome which was certainly not built in a day. It was so filled with beautiful architecture that you couldn't stop looking up at the buildings.

Holland was the most accepting, you could walk around holding hands and no one would bat an eyelid. You took advantage of this and touched Ryan at every chance you got. You went to a lot of gay clubs when you were there.

London was big and busy and had a thriving nightlife. You felt a bit overwhelmed by this sprawling city. You stayed in the most amazing hotel and if you had your choice you would have hibernated there all day, with Ryan of course.

Paris was the city of Love. In Paris you made love. A lot!

The holiday was over too fast, but you both agreed that every moment had been memorable. A week after you got back from your travels you took Ryan to the airport and said your farewells, he had cried but you had brushed the tears away from his eyes and told him that you would never forget him and that you loved him.

You waited until you knew that Ryan was out of sight until you let your own tears fall. You weren't ready to say goodbye.

The _one I should not think of_

* * *

_Keeps rolling through my mind_

_And I don't want to let that go_

'_**Nobody's Side' – Chess (The original New York Lyrics) **_

_College: Year 1 _

'They' (who ever 'They' are) say that distance makes the heart grow fonder but this distance was just too much and no relationship could have taken the strain, especially with both of you having so much work to complete and him not bothering to come home for holidays. He said there was no point, he'd finally found a place where he fit in and he didn't want to leave for a place that didn't feel like home anymore. You wanted to tell him that you were his home. You never did.

You can't stop thinking about him. What is he doing? Where has he been? Who is he with? You're not meant to be thinking about him. You promised yourself you wouldn't. But you also promised him that you wouldn't forget what you had together because it was special and wonderful and it should have lasted longer.

You don't want to let him go although you know that at some point you'll have to.

* * *

_How do you measure, measure a year?_

_In daylights, in sunsets, in midnights_

_In cups of coffee_

_In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife._

'_**Seasons of Love' –Rent **_

_The Big Bad World:_

After six years of Elementary School, then Junior High, then another four years of High School. Three years of College seems a breeze. It's going out into the world that's the hard part. . You've lived off coffee and _Pot Noodle _for the past three years, Ryan would have killed you, and you feel as if you have been living in a bubble of endless parties and essays. Nothing can prepare you for what is to come. Now you have to cook for yourself…Forever!

You need to find a job, you need to find an apartment, and you need to find a love life. You've had a couple of flings and one reasonable long relationship since Ryan but nothing can measure up. You are always comparing and it's not fair on your lover so you always end it before they think it's getting serious. Part of your heart will always belong to Ryan, even if he is miles away. Maybe you should go to New York and claim it back, even if you don't really want to. You're scared he's moved on, locked your heart in a box and forgotten all about it.

You still have your savings, just enough to get a flight there and maybe a month's rent. You could get a job in 'The Big Apple', in 'The City that never sleeps'. You could go claim that part of your heart back, or even if this is just hoping, give him the rest of it.

It's just an Idea.

* * *

_It's a city of strangers,_

_Some come to work, some to play._

_A city of strangers,_

_Some come to stare, some to stay._

'_**Another hundred people' – Company **_

_Just an Idea:_

You thought New York would be like London, busy and overwhelming like when you went to Europe but you didn't take into account the size difference. New York is in all efforts larger than London. Bigger buildings, bigger potions of food, bigger spaces.

The people here are nice enough but you haven't met anyone who has become your friend yet. Everyone is just a stranger passing you by in the street. Some come from work, some from play. They all tumble on the subway or the bus and stare at their feet or their book or they stare at you. The young kid who came in search of his heart.

Due to the lack of friends you find yourself wandering a lot, just staring up at the expanse of building above your head. You observe a lot of different things on your wanders. On one particular day you wonder onto Broadway and take in the bright lights and posters for new theatre productions and the classic musicals. It makes you think of Ryan, and as you think of Ryan his face appears. It's on a poster for 'The Producers' He's not the main focus but he's there and its definitely him.

You go to the nearest box office and buy one ticket to 'The Producers' for that night.

You have been waiting outside the backstage door for forty minutes now (the other autograph hunters have been and gone - no patience) and only the chorus has come out. You wait another ten minutes and you are just about to head back to your apartment when you hear laughing and the door opening. Ryan comes out of the door with a group of actors and he's laughing and joking and he looks so happy.

You don't want to make your presence known but you've left enough things unsaid between you, so by the time you call out his name he's already half way down the street, but he turns around and looks at you. You look back.

And just like that you have an arm full of blonde, his head is pushed into the crook of your neck and your head rests atop of his. You close your eyes just to saver the moment. When he looks up at you, you brush the hair away from his forehead, like you used to, and lean in to lightly kiss him. It's been years but this feels right.

It's no longer a city full of strangers.

* * *

_That what I always dreamed of was meant to be_

_You and me and you, fantasies come true_

'_**Fantasies Come True' – Avenue Q**_

_1__st__ Year: Paper _

A year has past since that night outside the theatre and you are moving boxes of your possessions into Ryan's (and your) apartment. It's a lot nicer than your old one; this one actually has more than two rooms.

You never thought you'd be 23 and settling down, living with your partner and going shopping for a new bed. Bed shopping, you find, is dull, but then you think about what you and Ryan will be doing on this bed as soon as you buy it and suddenly everything gets a bit more exciting (and a bit more excited.)Right now you are having a fantasy about you and Ryan having sex on your new bed, that you bought together, to put in your apartment. Back in high school you had a fantasy about you and Ryan having sex on a four-poster bed, covered in silk sheets.

Turns out fantasies can come true because you do have sex on your new bed (well you have to christen it) and the four-poster bed fantasy came true in Paris. Ryan's dreams also came true that first year, and not just sexually – though you do your best. His agent got him his first major role in a movie. The movie did well at the box offices and Ryan became an instant success. Everywhere you go people want him.

You are so proud of him that the photos of you kissing or holding hands, snapped from a far and splayed in the glossy magazines don't both you.

* * *

_Agony!_

_Beyond power of speech,_

_When the one thing you want_

_Is the only thing out of your reach?_

'_**Agony' – Into The Woods **_

_3rd year: Leather _

There seems to be a pain in your chest when he has to leave you, it's like he's taken that part of your heart with him on his travels and its absolute agony. It's been years since you have stayed away from each other, not since you found each other again. You think it's because you are both scared that distance could rip you apart just like it did before, back when you were young and Naïve.

Sometimes you wish you could just leave your job and go with him, be there at every premier, but you have to make a living here in New York with every other person trying to make it big as an artist or climb the corporate ladder. You have responsibilities to the kids you teach. They look up to you and adore you and you can't just leave them with a substitute they don't know, even if they are only finger painting or making potato prints that week.

You know it's all part of the job. That he has to go and make money and be famous and fight off other men and other woman and admirers barley old enough to venture out without a parent. You watch him on the television, when you just need to see his face and hear his voice (even if you do speak on the phone every night).

It's agony that he seems so close and yet is so far. From you; from his home. You have the urge to reach out and touch the image.

* * *

_I wish we might have a child._

_I wish..._

'_**Prologue' – 'Into the Woods'**_

_8__th__ year: Bronze_

Sharpay had a baby about two years ago and Ryan always said that he would settle for being the world's best uncle but you can see that Ryan is starting to get broody. You work with kids all day everyday and every time Ryan comes to visit you at work he always coos over the funny little things that you call a class. The kids all think Ryan's visits are really cool – 'Wow! Mr Bolton your married to a movie star' – they're only four and don't understand the concept of homosexuality and the fact that Ryan and you are together but not married. That's one of the reasons you work with the younger kids, they are far more excepting than some of the older ones.

You want to give Ryan everything he wants; you want to make him happy, you want to be able to give him a child of his own. So you sit him down and suggest you adopt and in all the time you have known him you have never seen him smile as bright as that before. He kisses you before you can go on.

A year later, your both 30 but you have yourself your own little baby, a beautiful baby girl. You let Ryan name her, Katie.

* * *

_Oh, how we'd bloom, how we'd thrive_

_In a cottage for two, or even three, four or five._

'_**Easy to Love' –Anything Goes **_

_20__th__ year: China _

Sharpay and Ryan have not worked together on a project for over twenty years. Ever since Ryan packed off to New York they went their separate ways and so this movie is worth packing up your job (only for a week) and your family, Katie who's 14, Ben who's 8, Jack who's 4 and Jessie who's 2, and going to LA for the opening premier.

Ryan doesn't watch the whole film, he takes Jessie and Jack back to Sharpay's house when they start to get restless, you offer to go but Ryan tells you to stay and enjoy the film. Katie and Ben are thoroughly enthralled by watching their Daddy on the big screen. You have to admit that you have one very talented partner, not that you have ever doubted that for a second.

It makes you sad sometimes that Ryan misses out on some of your kid's lives because of his job, he's away for weeks at a time and he missed Jack's fist word because of filming some movie or other. The family misses him when he's gone. You miss him when he's gone; you always have, ever since you were eighteen.

Twenty-three years later and you've come along way from then. You've thrived, in your relationship and bloomed as a family.

* * *

_I understand the reason why_

_You're sentimental, 'cause so am I,_

_It's delightful, it's delicious, it's de-lovely._

'_**De-Lovely' - Anything Goes**_

_30__th__ Year: Pearl_

As a wedding gift you and Ryan had compiled an album of the major events in Katie's life. The photograph of you bathing a tiny baby and smiling up at the camera, the photograph of a two year old covered in cake batter and smiling that mischievous smile that you always associate with your little girl, the photograph of her, Ryan and Ben singing their hearts out to an 80's rock ballad, the photograph of all six of you on your annual visit to your parents house in Albuquerque. Your favourite photograph is the one of you lifting Katie high in the air so that she can drop a basketball into the basket, it reminds you of you and your father.

When Katie was eighteen, you and Ryan paid for her to go on a language course to anywhere in the world. She chose Italy; you have sneaking suspicion she must have over heard Ryan teasing you about your weakness for an Italian.

Six years later and you stand at an alter giving your oldest daughter away to an Italian sex god. You may have not got you're Italian stallion all those years ago but your daughter certainly did.

As a joke Ben had told Jessie that the confetti that she was meant to be scattering down the aisle was edible and so by the time the service was about to start the contents of her basket were greatly reduced, much to everyone's

amusement. Jessie had started to cry because everyone was making fun of her and so you made Ben apologise and carry Jessie's weird doll down the aisle, much to his embarrassment, Katie and Ryan laughed so hard they almost cried.

At Katie's (and you think you should probably include Paulo in there as well) wedding, tradition doesn't really apply and so both you and Ryan walk your daughter down the aisle. At the end Ryan touches Paulo on the shoulder and tells him to look after your girl and that he couldn't ask for anyone better for her. He then turns to Katie and tells her he loves her before he takes his seat. You can see that they both have tears in their eyes.

When it's your turn to give your blessing words fail you. You look straight into your daughters beautiful blue eyes and wonder what you did to deserve such an amazing family; you kiss Katie on the cheek and whisper the only words that you can think of 'My Baby' before taking your seat. Katie starts to cry and Paulo steps forward and takes her hands in his and she smiles, wiping at her tears.

Katie and Paulo are exchanging rings and Jack is standing in front of them, still holding the ring cushion, and looking utterly board. Next to you Ben is sighing over dramatically, which causes his girlfriend, Georgie, to swat him on the arm. Katie (and probably Ryan) will have their heads later. You find it amazing how none of your little family are related and yet can be so similar.

At the reception, Ben sings a couple of songs, which as always are beautiful and he then goes and rejoins Georgie who he kisses sweetly before taking her hand and watching Katie and Paulo in their first dance. When you look at Ben, you can't think of anyone who deserves happiness as much as he does. He's the only one of your children who didn't come to you as a tiny baby and he has a history to remember. He was a tiny child, hard to believe now, looking at the 6"4 giant he's turned into. When he came to you he was undernourished, physically abused and he never cried. Later you learnt that he taught himself not to as he thought no one would come. It pains you to think what monsters could cause such a tiny, vulnerable little boy such harm. But he's safe now and he's happy and when you look at Ben and Georgie together you see you and Ryan at that age and you can't help think that you and Ryan aren't half bad parents.

When the slow music starts you know Ryan is itching to get up and dance so you offer your hand as you stand. He beams up at you and you make your way to the dance floor. There are couples everywhere. Katie and Paulo, Ben and Georgie,

You and Ry. You're all holding each other tightly and whispering sweet nothings in each other's ears. And then you see Jessie and Jack are doing some new dance routine they must have made up; you can see Ryan and Sharpay in them already.

You watch them for a little bit longer until you can't help but laugh. You laugh so hard you cry.

* * *

_Everyday_

_Of our lives,_

_Wanna find you there, wanna hold on tight_

'_**Everyday' – High School Musical 2**_

_50__th__ year: Gold _

It's just you and Ryan now. Back where you started, in a two-bedroom apartment in New York. You both decided that it was time to move to a smaller place once you both hit the bit 7-0. Your 71 now and it still feels empty. You miss the hustle and bustle of children, even if the last child moved out over a decade ago.

Katie and Paulo have moved to Italy where they are raising their family. You miss her everyday.

Ben's a single parent, with two little girls. You could watch Ben with his daughters all day because you see so much joy in his eyes. When his wife left he'd come straight to you, not knowing what to do, what could he tell the girls? You told him that you'd sort everything out as a family and that you and Ryan were always here, whenever he needed you. You think he's seeing someone now but he's obviously not ready to bring her to meet the parents.

Jack is so much like Ryan it scares you sometimes. He's a ballet dancer, lean and muscular. He's grown into a beautiful young man with a sweet and docile nature. Every now and then he will turn up on your doorstep because he's had another fight with his boyfriend and Ryan will always grab his bags, pull him into the house and hug him until he's all cried out. You sit down and talk to him then. You've always been the talker; while Ryan shows what he feels though action.

Jessie has become a keen career woman, which, your not going to lie, sort of surprised you. You thought Jessie would be the one child who had a house with a white picket fence, 2.5 kids, a perfect husband and a dog. But instead she has an on-off boyfriend, lives in an apartment on the Upper East Side and is climbing and corporate ladder at an alarming rate. She's already making more at her job in a week that you did as a kindergarten teacher in a year.

And then there's Ryan, Ryan your life partner, Ryan who has taught you so many valuable lessons in the last 50 years. Ryan who no longer has to travel, Ryan who is next to you everyday and Ryan who you would hold forever and never let him go.

* * *

_Notes: I may have got the American school system completely wrong (I looked on Wikipedia but I didn't really understand it) - Sorry!_

_All the lyrics come from musicals. If you haven't heard of these musicals go check them out – especially 'Company' it has the most gorgeous songs. Got to love Sondheim. _

_This is for Charlotte (_charl88)_ because she went of to Uni on the day I started to write this fic and was really nervous. Before she went she told me she wished I would write another fic so here is it hun. X _


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